Sarcomatoid malignant peritoneal mesothelioma presenting as a localized mesenteric tumor with no previous asbestos exposure

Our plain-English summary of Sarcomatoid malignant peritoneal mesothelioma presenting as a localized mesenteric tumor with no previous asbestos exposure, by Y.A. Notue, U.I. Mbessoh, G. Nganwa, et al (Journal of Surgical Case Reports, 2020).

The study

• Authors: Y.A. Notue, U.I. Mbessoh, G. Nganwa, J.N. Pambe, A.C. Mefire, B. Moifo, Z. Sando
• Journal: Journal of Surgical Case Reports
• Published: 2020;2020(10):rjaa419
• Type of article: Case report
• Cited by: 4 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

Sarcomatoid malignant peritoneal mesothelioma is the rarest and most lethal form of peritoneal mesothelioma. We present the case of a sarcomatoid malignant peritoneal mesothelioma presenting as a localized mesenteric tumor in a 54-year-old female with no previous asbestos exposure. This clinical presentation is extremely rare and is the first documented in Cameroon.

Published by Oxford University Press and JSCR Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved. © The Author(s) 2020.

In plain English

This article is a case report from Cameroon about one patient: a 54-year-old woman with sarcomatoid malignant peritoneal mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the abdomen. The report states that she had never been exposed to asbestos. She had been a lifelong secondary school teacher who lived her whole life in one area, where there was no asbestos-related facility. She came to hospital with a painless abdominal mass that had been growing for 6 months. A CT scan did not settle what the mass was, so surgeons operated. They found a single, encapsulated mass in the mesentery, the tissue that holds the intestines. It weighed about 500 grams and measured 12.5 by 10.5 by 8 cm, and there was no abdominal fluid (ascites). Microscope findings were compatible with a low grade sarcomatoid malignant mesothelioma, and staining tests were consistent with that diagnosis. She was referred to a cancer specialist and chemotherapy was planned. The authors described this presentation as extremely rare and the first documented in Cameroon, and recommended considering this diagnosis in patients with an abdominal mass.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: case report (one patient)
• Who was studied: One 54-year-old woman in Cameroon, a lifelong secondary school teacher, a non-smoker with no family history of cancer, admitted with a 6-month history of a painless, growing abdominal mass. The date of the case is not given.
• Exposure: No asbestos exposure was reported. The patient had never been exposed to asbestos and had lived her whole life in one area with no asbestos-related facility.
• Main results:
  • The abdominal CT scan was not conclusive, so the surgical team performed an exploratory laparotomy (an operation to examine the abdomen).
  • At surgery the patient had a single, localized, encapsulated, firm mass in the mesentery. It weighed about 500 grams and measured 12.5 by 10.5 by 8 cm, with no inflammation, no mesenteric lymph nodes and no ascites.
  • Under the microscope the tumor's features were compatible with a low grade sarcomatoid malignant mesothelioma.
  • The tumor cells stained positive for keratin AE1/AE3 and CAM 5.2 and negative for desmin and CD34, which the authors described as consistent with the diagnosis.
  • The patient was referred to an oncologist and adjuvant chemotherapy was planned. No treatment outcome is reported.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors recommended that doctors consider malignant peritoneal mesothelioma as a possible diagnosis in patients with an abdominal mass.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Sarcomatoid, Peritoneal Mesothelioma, Asbestos Exposure.

Related studies

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• Localized malignant pleural sarcomatoid mesothelioma misdiagnosed as benign localized fibrous tumor — K.C. Kim, H.P. Vo (2016)
• Synchronous Jejunal Sarcomatoid Carcinoma and Incidentally Associated Localized Peritoneal Malignant Mesothelioma — M. Tachibana, M. Nozawa, et al. (2022)
• Peritoneal mesothelioma presenting as umbilical tumor — W.S. Kwee, R.W. Veldhuizen, et al. (1982)
• Malignant peritoneal mesothelioma mimicking mesenteric inflammatory disease — A. Andrion, E. Feyles, et al. (1994)
• Sarcomatoid Mesothelioma With New Pancreatic Lesions Presenting As Acute Pancreatitis: A Case Report — F. Al-Moussally, F. Alamin, et al. (2024)

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